Mark Galeotti

Also by Mark Galeotti

• July 20, 2016

  Commentary: Hybrid Business -- The Risks In The Kremlin's Weaponization Of The Economy

  Russia's government has a pernicious habit of treating business as yet another arm of politics, and this habit goes far beyond the notions of "kleptocracy" or "state capitalism."

• November 03, 2014

  Commentary: Crime And Crimea -- Criminals As Allies And Agents

  What the Crimean annexation has demonstrated in especially stark form is the connection between crime and the Russian state -- both how the Kremlin uses criminals as instruments of state policy and also how the underworld and upperworld have become inextricably entwined as a consequence.

• October 12, 2010

  Medvedev Brings Investigations Committee Close

  Contributor Mark Galeotti says Russia's transfer of the powerful Investigative Committee from the Prosecutor-General's Office to direct subordination by the president offers insight into the concerns of the senior leadership.

• August 04, 2010

  Russia's Gangsters With Convictions

  It is easy to see the Russian underworld as chaotic, lawless in every sense. Of late, it has also looked as though a mob war loomed. However, as with so much in Russia, the underworld may look entirely unruly but it is in fact governed by a form of "managed anarchy."

• January 07, 2010

  Russian Police Reform And Control

  The initial signs are that for all the promises of "sharp and serious" changes, the only real outcome of Russia's proposed police reforms is likely to be more centralization.

• October 14, 2009

  Hard Times For Russia's Crime Bosses

  Mark Galeotti argues that lucrative new opportunities have opened up for organized criminals in Russia at the very time when their fingers are closest to their triggers and their need for new income is greatest.

• October 06, 2009

  Why Do Russia's Police Remain Unreformed?

  While so much else in Russia has changed, its police force is still strikingly unreformed since the late Soviet era. From time to time, this is recognized as a problem and promises are made to modernize the Interior Ministry. But rarely do they come to anything.

• September 29, 2009

  Have Russia’s Dirty Generals Turned On Shamanov?

  On the surface, tapes of a Russian general allegedly obstructing justice suggests the government is at last beginning to crack down on the abuse of office within the high command. But the reality is less promising.